Everybody Cut Loose.....

Today I attended my first South African, Colored, Afrikaans funeral.  We basically popped in for a visit and to pay our condolences to the family on behalf of Living Hope, as I was told the service would go on for hours.  There were lots of children running around outside the church.  Inside the church, it was standing room only and I stood outside for sometime before slowly making my way inside.  There were multiple speakers.  4 in just the 30 minutes or so that I was there and almost just as many songs.  

There was however something that stood out to me.  Something that I have never seen before.  Something unusual, and intriguing at the same time.  I am not sure that I completely understand the reasoning behind it or even the theology of it, but there is something about it that resonates with me.  

As I made my way into the church I was able to see 3 men on stage along with a young man on the keyboards.  It was a very packed church, maybe 7 rows or so of plastic chairs with as many people standing in the back.  The closed casket was in the middle of the center aisle and reached 1/2 way from the pulpit to the back.  

During one of the songs I noticed a lady get up and start dancing in the back in the center aisle.  Nothing unusual I thought, we are in South Africa.  As I looked around, almost every head was bobby and everybody was rocking back and forth.  Multiple tambourines came out in the audience while everyone else sang and clapped to the overly loud keyboard.  What happened next was the shocker.  The two ladies danced their way upfront and began to dance around the casket in a conga type fashion.  To my surprise, slowly more people started joining until there were about 12 all together, clapping, singing, and dancing their way around the casket.  

I have no idea what they were singing as the entire service was in Afrikaans, but whatever it was it sounded very happy.   Maybe this is an example of what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes about there is a time to mourn and a time to dance. 

Maybe if we understood heaven and the thin line that separates our life here on this earth, and our lives in heaven, maybe this would not seem so odd.  If heaven is what the Bible says, and it is what we think it is, then maybe we should be celebrating.  Although I must admit it would be very difficult to dance at a loved ones funeral service, I think the idea of it is what resonates with me.  The Bible tells us that the angels rejoice over 1 repentant sinner.  How much more do they rejoice when 1 repentant sinner comes home?

There is no death for the repentant sinner, only life to life and for that, I did a little dance in the back of this South African church for all my loved ones that await me in Heaven.